Of Clowns and Roller Coasters
by TheLifeILive
Summary: Who knew that facing your fears could be so much fun? B


**Disclaimer: Not mine**

**A/N: Alright, so I was writing a paper and this just kind of came out at 3:00 in the morning. It sounded fine then, but numerous have been the occasions where I handed in papers that sounded good in the early hours of the morning only to get them back and wonder what I had been thinking when I had decided it was good enough to submit Hope you enjoy it! **

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Temperance Brennan glanced around her, eagerly drinking in the sights and smells of her surroundings. It had been ages since she had been to an amusement park for purely entertainment purposes. Her and Booth had had cases that had taken them to carnivals, the most notable being their mummy case that had them running around D.C. dressed as Wonder Woman and a Squint, but now she was at one just for fun. 

She glanced over at her partner who was currently purchasing cotton candy for his son and she almost cringed at the thought of what that stuff did to your teeth. He seemed to be having a good time. After their run in with a psychotic clown and being sensible of Booth's intense dislike of the painted entertainers, Brennan marveled that Booth could even come within fifty feet of another one, let alone enter an amusement park full of them.

There was only one person in the world that could make Booth set aside his irrational phobia for the day. Earlier that morning Booth had felt the full effects of his own charm smile as his secret weapon was turned against him by his son. Booth had Parker the day after his birthday and Parker wanted to go to the local theme park. Booth had known he was gong to have to face his fears one day and it seemed that the day had been decided upon by his son's eagerness to go to an amusement park.

Much to Booth's chagrin his son was not content to be the sole witness to Booth's humiliating confrontation of his fears, but wanted the entire Squint Squad to come with them. It being a Saturday and all, every single one of them was not only available, but delighted to accompany father and son on their mission.

This was how Brennan found herself in her current position, walking next to Booth past bright lights and screaming children. Brennan spotted a clown handing out balloons and was about to take advantage of the opportunity to tease her partner when she took pity on him and decided to just let him enjoy his day with his son without dredging up painful memories of almost dying at the hands of a psychopath with a crazy wig.

Unfortunately for Booth, his son had no qualms about dragging his Father over to that hideous smiling face and making him wait while the large gloved hands transformed a long thin balloon into a crazy hat. Brennan watched Booth shudder as the clown squatted down in front of his son and placed the bright red balloon hat on his head. He couldn't seem to get away fast enough.

"Funny," said Booth to Brennan once they had rejoined the group, "theme parks are supposed to be bright and cheerful, but all I can think about is that damn clown pulling out a gun and taking a shot at me."

Brennan felt truly sorry for her partner and despite telling herself that his unfounded fears weren't her problem, began trying to come up with a way to put him at ease. She looked over at Angela, knowing what she would suggest and as tempting as that was, it probably wasn't appropriate given where they were. Locale aside, it wasn't even an option as Temperance Brennan was still making a valiant attempt at her New Year's Resolution to resist the obvious charms of her partner.

"I'm sorry this is so hard for you," she said apologetically. She paused before turning to look at him, "I know this is a pointless question, but is there anything I can do?"

Booth was about to thank her politely and tell her that it was really alright when he spotted a roller coaster in the distance.

"Hmmm, there might be something…."

Brennan turned and followed his line of vision and what she saw made her eyes widen in horror. What few people knew about Temperance Brennan was that she was absolutely terrified of roller coasters. Everything about them made her cringe. The steep drops, the fact the one was barely strapped into the carts and more than anything else, she didn't trust the mechanics. Despite knowing better and plenty of contrary evidence, she always felt like the cart was seconds away from flying off the track.

She knew what he was gong to ask and had to fight her instinct to retract her offer before it was too late, but this was Booth.

"Want to ride the roller coaster with me?"

Brennan nearly choked on her affirmative, but Booth barely noticed as he excitedly grabbed her hand and, after asking Angela to watch Parker on the Merry-Go-Round, pulled Brennan toward the towering structure of a roller coaster with some crazy and untrustworthy name like Mind Buster or Brain Scrambler. Swirling Vortex of Death would have been more appropriate. She could feel herself begin to shake and tried to fight it off before her partner noticed, but Booth was too perceptive.

He felt her hand, which he had yet to let go of, begin to shake and was about to cast her a puzzled look when realization dawned on him. The invincible Dr. Brennan was afraid of roller coasters.

"Bones," he asked her with a bit of a grin on his face," are you scared of roller coasters?"

"I'm not afraid of anything Booth," she said confidently.

"Besides snakes you mean?" he asked innocently.

She glared at him as they reached the ride and got in line.

Booth had to laugh as she motioned to an amusement park worker and proceeded to interrogate him on the maintenance and safety features of the ride.

"You sure you're not scared?" he asked after the park attendant had made his escape.

"I happen to think safety is important and I told you, I'm not afraid. Let's go." She handed her ticket to the young teenager operating the ride, yet another reassuring aspect of this terrifying experience, and tried to keep her mind off the fact that the roller coaster looked to be about a hundred years old and that there would be nothing but a metal bar and flimsy safety belt keeping her from rocketing out of her seat to most certain death. If she hadn't been so afraid she would have found her morbid attitude somewhat amusing.

"Bones" said Booth uncertainly, "if you don't want to do this…."

"I do want to do this…of course….why wouldn't I?" she finished after casting a wary glance at the incoming carts that were bouncing their occupants all over the place. She gulped, _It's not too late to change your mind _she told herself. But she was determined; if Booth could face his fears then so could she.

They climbed into the cart and buckled the safety restrain around them. The bar in front of them lowered, a horn blast sounded and suddenly they were off. Immediately Brennan grasped Booth's hand. She tried to will herself to stay calm. The last time she had ridden a roller coaster she had clung desperately to her father for the duration of the ride and she was now worried that she would be giving a repeat performance with her incredibly attractive partner.

_Please, _she thought, _let me get through this without making a fool of myself_.

But the roller coaster had other plans.

Booth saw Brennan's face pale as they began their slow ascent up the hill. He had extensive experience riding with people who were less than thrilled about their current position and knew that the slow climb before the drop was the hardest part. The knowledge that you were about to plummet down an impossibly steep slope and experience the either thrilling, nauseating or downright terrifying feeling of your stomach trying to escape your body through your mouth did little to pacify the freaked out riders who had convinced themselves that that last ride couldn't have been as bad as they remembered. They later found themselves cursing the friend sitting beside them who was obviously to blame for their current panicked condition and the worst decision they ever made: giving the roller coaster one more try.

He felt Brennan's hand grasp his even tighter as they reached the top of the hill. Then suddenly they were flying down the slope at breakneck speed and Booth found his partner grasping his arm tightly and burying her face in his shoulder. He smiled; he didn't know riding the roller coaster could be this much fun. If he had known this would be her reaction he would have asked her to accompany him to a theme park a long time ago.

They were tearing around the track, making loops and twirls and this only caused Brennan to press even closer to Booth. Finding herself suddenly upside down, Brennan didn't think twice before throwing herself as much on top of Booth as the safety belt and metal bar would allow and putting her arms tightly around his waist. She buried her face deeper into his shoulder and hoped that it would be over soon.

She glanced up for a second and Booth was mesmerized by her flushed cheeks, wide eyes and the effect created by her hair flying in the wind. Just as quickly as she looked up, her face was back pressed against his arm. He found himself placing a hand on her back and whispering to her that they were near the end.

He almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of the situation. His rational partner, who must have known that they were perfectly safe, seeing as she had asked the ride operator about a million and one questions about the safety and maintenance of the ride, was at this moment hiding under his arm and frantically holding onto him like he was the only thing that could save her from a fate worse than death.

Finally it was over and they made their way down the ramp. Brennan was still clutching Booth's arm as she tried to maintain her balance. It seemed that recovering from the horrifying experience of surviving a ride meant for children was a bit harder than it seemed.

"You alright there Bones?" asked Booth, tipping up her chin and looking her in the eye; not letting her get away with the lie he was sure would come in response to his concerns.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, appearing to have finally regained some semblance of composure.

He just shook his head. "Why didn't you tell me roller coasters scared you?"

She had long since learned that lying to him was pointless so she just shrugged her shoulders.

"You needed cheering up and you wanted to ride the roller coaster," she said logically.

"You didn't have to do that," he said softly.

"Yes," she nodded, "yes I did."

A smile spread across his face and he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She suddenly found her legs as wobbly as the moment she had stepped off the roller coaster.

"That was sweet of you Bones. Thank you."

She looked dazed and he wondered for a moment if roller coasters made her sick as well as scared, but his thoughts were cut off when she threw herself into his arms and pressed her lips firmly against his.

_Resolutions be damned_ she thought to herself. Since today seemed to be her day for facing her fears, why not get it all over with at once? If she could ride a roller coaster she could certainly face the terrifying prospect of falling for her partner. Yes, Temperance Brennan was that scared of roller coasters.

She finally pulled away slowly and Booth grinned at her.

"You could have skipped the ride and just done that. That went farther in cheering me up than any roller coaster ride ever has or will."

She just returned his smile and pulled him back toward the others.

Angela watched them approaching and, knowing about Brennan's fear of roller coasters, hurried over to make sure her friend was alright. She looked shell shocked and Angela began to worry.

"Sweetie, are you okay? Was the ride that bad?"

Brennan turned to Angela and her glazed look turned to one of utter happiness.

"It was wonderful," she sighed.

Angela made a face and shook her head, no more roller coasters for that one.

Little did she know that that roller coaster had accomplished more in ten minutes than she had in the last three years.

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**Thanks for reading!**


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